Women's Volleyball

Volleyball wins seventh straight with 3-0 sweep of Sewanee

photo by Jimmy Mitchell

Oct 04, 2014

BIRMINGHAM, Ala.—The BSC volleyball team ripped off another conference win Saturday afternoon with a 3-0 victory over visiting Sewanee in Bill Battle Coliseum.

BSC improves to 14-6 on the season and 5-1 in the Southern Athletic Association, moving to the top of the conference standings. The win is the squad's fifth straight conference victory and seventh overall win in a row. Sewanee is now 5-12 overall and 1-5 in conference play.

BSC dominated the opening set of the match 25-10. Holding a one-point advantage early in the set at 3-2 with Sewanee serving, a kill by senior Katie O'Bar from a junior Katie McCormack assist started a four-point rally that pushed the lead to 7-2. It was one of four rallies in the opening set in which the Panthers won four or more points.

Sets two and three were far more competitive with the Panthers taking wins by the scores of 25-22 and 26-24. The second set started much the same way as the first ended, with the Panthers firmly in control. A kill from senior Kathleen Pfitzer gave the home team a 6-1 advantage. Sewanee then came charging back, keeping the second set close and even staking a lead at 14-13. The Panthers rallied back to claim another five-point advantage at 23-18. A kill from sophomore Caroline Hyde off a McCormack assist, one of her game-high 46 assists in the match, closed out the set.

Set three was a back and forth affair as the Panthers never enjoyed a lead of more than three points throughout the entire set. Sewanee managed to fight back and create eight ties in the final set and even claimed a late lead at 24-23. On the brink, two straight kills from sophomore Laura Van Peursem gave BSC a match point at 25-24. A Sewanee attack error capped the three-point rally that earned the Panthers the match.

Pfitzer led the Panthers with 19 kills and hit an impressive .607 with only two errors. Junior libero Lauren Bedford paced the Panthers' defensive effort with 17 digs, with sophomore Lynsie Byrd right behind her with 16 digs. The collective hitting percentage of .290 was the second-best on the season for the Panthers.